Charlie Saves The Day
by MizDenton
Summary: Not everything Charlie knows is about math.


Sometimes it took a lot to pull Dr. Charlie Eppes out of a mathematical equation but not every time. Sometimes all it took was his name being called in a certain way, usually accompanied by a loud noise of some kind.

"Charlie…"

He turned from the white board, set up in a conference room at the L.A. F.B.I field office, in time to see Sally Mott, another consultant, partially collapse on the conference table, all the color draining from her face.

"Sally? What's wrong?" He dropped the marker he had been holding and went to her side.

"My bag…" She managed to get out before sinking further onto the table.

He nodded, somehow managing to move her into a chair and fetch her bag at the same time. "What am I looking for?"

"Pen…" Her head was in her hands, her voice barely audible.

He dug through the bag, dumping it on the table. An over-sized pen rolled toward the edge. He snatched it up and pulled the lid off. He had an idea of an auto injector pen worked but that was all. One look at Sally told him he'd better learn quick. She was hunched all the way over in the chair, almost falling out of it. He scanned the directions, primed the pen and jabbed Sally in the upper thigh. He dropped the pen on the table and took her hand in both of his, rubbing it gently. He looked toward the door. Sally needed more help than he could give her but he didn't want to leave her alone long enough to get someone's attention.

"Sally? Say something to me."

"I'm sorry." She lifted her head and met Charlie's worried gaze. "I usually have a better grip on this."

He nodded. "Things happen. I'm going to get some help. Can I leave you long enough to go to the door?"

"Yeah." She didn't look nearly as bad as she had a few minutes before but she was still far too pale for Charlie's liking.

He went to the door, scanning the 'bullpen', looking for anyone he knew. His eyes fell on David, wrestling with the ever-present stack of paperwork. "David? Come here."

David appeared in the doorway a few moments later, seeing Charlie once again crouched next to Sally asked "What happened?"

"Sally's had some kind of reaction to some…." Charlie started to say but David was gone before he could finish the sentence. "Can I get you some water?" He asked her.

Sally shook her head and winced. She shut her eyes and leaned against Charlie. David returned a few minute later with Tim Ryan, the Hostage Response Team medic, in tow.

"There's an ambulance on the way." David said, following Tim into the room.

Charlie nodded. He started to move out of Tim's way but Sally wouldn't let him go.

"It's all right, Dr. Eppes, I can work around you." Tim told him, setting down his field kit. He slipped on a pair of latex gloves and opened the kit. "What happened?"

Charlie explained and handed Tim the used pen. Tim nodded and focused his attention on Sally. "Sally, my name's Tim. How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been run over by a truck." She replied.

Tim nodded. "And your breathing? Can you take a full breath?" He pulled a stethoscope from his kit. "Take as deep a breath as you can for me. I'm going to listen to you. Dr. Eppes, if you could help her sit up."

As Tim worked on Sally, Don came through the door, joining David near the front of the room.

"What the Hell?" He demanded.

David shook his head. "No idea. The first I knew there was a problem was when Charlie called me in here a few minutes ago."

Don _looked_ at him. "You've got no idea?"

"It looks like she had some kind of allergic reaction. There's one of those Epi Pen things on the table." David replied.

Don ran a hand through his hair. "Jeez."

"As Agent Sinclair said there's an ambulance on the way." Tim told Sally.

"I'm not being carried out of here on a stretcher. I can walk." Sally replied.

"Okay. That's fine." He closed his kit and helped her to her feet. Charlie stood with her, wrapping an arm around her waist. Tim picked up his kit and three of them went out the door.

Don watched them go, a little surprised, a little amazed, a whole lot proud. That was _his_ baby brother helping out. Wow. The trio made it to the elevator without further problems. Just when he thought he had a handle on who Charlie was…

"I think you're rubbing off on your brother." David said.

Don shook his head. "Nah, if anything, he's rubbing off on me."

To her credit, Sally made it all the way to the ground floor and out into the lobby before her knees buckled. Charlie scooped her up and put her on the waiting gurney. Tim relayed the patient information to one paramedic while another belted Sally down.

"Do you want to me to go with you?" Charlie asked her. She looked a tiny bit better than before but she was still incredibly pale. "Is there someone I should call?"

"My brother. His number's in my phone, Justin Mott. And yes, if you wouldn't mind coming?" She sighed. "This is really going to set us back."

Charlie rolled his eyes. "And I'm the one who gets accused of not taking care of himself."

She smiled.

"Are you coming with her?" The paramedic who had strapped Sally down, a blond who looked vaguely like Megan, asked.

He nodded, following the two paramedics from the Federal Building into the warm, sunny L.A. afternoon.

Four hours later, Charlie returned to the Federal Building. He wouldn't have bothered to come back at all but he had left his laptop there and he needed it for his latest set of equations. That and he wasn't about to leave it unguarded overnight. The 14th floor was half-empty when he arrived, allowing him to get to the conference room that much quicker. He didn't see anyone from his brother's team but he hadn't expected to either. He reached the conference room and stopped cold.

His laptop was gone. Frantically, he searched through the room. Everything was there, everything but his laptop. He turned back to the door to get some help in searching and walked into his brother.

"Don, my laptop is gone! It was right on the table when I left with Sally and now…gone! The work on there is irreplaceable!"

Don simply put a hand on Charlie's shoulder and led him over to his desk. He pulled a set of keys from his pocket and unlocked a desk drawer. He opened the drawer and Charlie the 'missing' laptop.

"We couldn't control who went in and out of there after you and Sally left…Long story why." Don told him. He shut the door, pocketed the keys and sat on the edge of the desk. "I didn't touch it beyond closing the lid before I put in the drawer." He leaned forward, his hands on his knees. "I am well aware of how important your laptop is, to you and the rest of us." He straightened up and grinned. "I'm slow sometimes, I admit it but not that slow."

Charlie clutched his laptop tighter, a brilliant crimson flush spreading across his face. "I didn't say you were." He muttered.

"I know you didn't, bro." Don replied. "You know, Tim Ryan, the medic that saw Sally first?"

Charlie nodded.

"He was real impressed by how calm you were. 'You don't see that level of calm in civilians very often.' He said. 'Tell him from me that if he wants to change careers, he can have my spot.'."

Charlie blinked. He didn't quite know what to say. "Uh…tell Tim thank you, I'm flattered but I'll take my equations over being shot at any day."

Don shook his head but the smile was still there. "How _is _Sally?"

"Oh, she'll be fine. I called her brother and he came over as soon as he could. He was stuck in court, that's what took me so long to get back here. She's going to be out of commission for the next few days though."

Don nodded. "That's understandable."

"I can do the calculations without her," he paused, then added "until she comes back."

"Great, I know you can't go as fast by yourself but we really need that information."

This time, Charlie nodded. "You coming by the house tonight?"

"Maybe. Who's cooking?"

Charlie rolled his eyes. "I'll have Dad set another place at the table. See you later." He waved and left.

Don watched his little brother go before turning back to the work waiting for him. Charlie was a never ending source of amazement.


End file.
